The entire class congratulated John. John felt quite happy due to comprehending 'Infinite Mind'.

Du asked for advice. But John figured he would just need to spend a lot of cycles slowly grinding and improving his mental speed.

'Infinite Mind' required one to be a data lifeform. It wasn't something a human could pull off. John wasn't exactly 'human' anymore.

His mind operated on similar logic as a data lifeform now. While Du was making excellent progress. He was a cultivator. It was incredibly unlikely that he would be able to tap into Infinite Mind. But comprehending a dao was possible.

But due to how time worked in this virtual world. He would only be able to go about as fast as when John first came to level 1.

Du needed to spend a lot more time 'growing up'.

John was excited to see what he would learn on level 2.

In a flash of colors. John vanished from the classroom that had became his home. He then found himself in a different one. Surrounded by those that had passed him.

"It's J-0hn!"

John looked around. A lot of familiar 'faces'.

John went to the teacher at the first chance he got and asked what the test for this level was.

"You have already demonstrated processing power needed to enter society. But processing power is different then mental strength. Your mental speed is acceptable."

"This level is dedicated to improving mental strength!"

This time students weren't allowed to use simulations to entertain themselves. They instead had to enter a special trial.

What was the trial? It was nothing like what you might be thinking. There was no reward or inheritance.

This is where abilities and powers start to come into play.

You would enter a special 'node' created specifically for this trial.

Within... you would be stripped of your program, and properties. You would have to exist off of pure consciousness alone!

That's right. All data lifeforms are killed off on the second level. You must remember. Data lifeforms are immortal entities just like John.

But they have studied their consciousness for billions of cycles. The amount of knowledge they had regarding it surpassed John himself!

'School' merely taught the basics.

It had taken John decades to merely pass the first level. Had he not comprehended 'Infinite Mind'. It likely would've take centuries.

Perhaps even longer.

Du was going to be stuck on that level for a very long time.

So in the second level. Data lifeforms are taught how to cheat death! John found this quite interesting and begun to think of data lifeforms as beings on the same level as himself.

If they someday entered the physical world. They would easily become the rulers of his multiverse. This thought alone gave John some unique ideas.

John flew over to the trial.

Soon he was sucked in and found himself surrounded by darkness. His body was vaporized. The blue ball of energy exploded.

You see. John is no pushover. He has cheated death countless times...

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

So existing in this world off of pure consciousness alone wasn't as tall as a task as the first test. But the safety mechanism went off.

John felt his consciousness shatter!

His last thoughts were.

"There is a loophole in my souls defense!?"

John had created what he considered a impenetrable fortress of a soul. One indestructible.

But he wasn't facing a rank 10 here. He was facing a race with unfathomable knowledge regarding consciousness.

Basically. The 'trial' was also an artificial intelligence. It would destroy your consciousness in millions of different ways.

But these data lifeforms weren't only good at consciousness destruction. They were also good at creation.

Once the program recognized that had destroyed John's consciousness. The intelligence had left his eyes in the physical world.

The upgraded soul he had made was like a toy made of glass to this trial.

In the process of destroying his consciousness. The helmet he was wearing exploded!

John's soul was gone! So was his will! This wasn't the first time he had dealt with this. But before he could even react.

A blue ball of energy formed in a dark space.

"They revived me? I see... it is just a test."

"They kill you. Then bring you back. You must withstand getting erased."

John didn't realize it at first. But then he realized something...

"My consciousness is existing in the data universe!"

He wasn't wearing a cerebium helmet at the moment. Yet his avatar in that world had been reconstructed. When they destroyed and rebuilt his consciousness. It wasn't a simple reconstruction. It was an entire upgrade.

They had no idea how big of an impact this had on John. But he had truly became a data lifeform in soul now.

His soul didn't look like a ball of energy.

It was pure data!

John couldn't help but be impressed with their methods. This was considered 'basic education' in this universe. Yet, it was dealing with problems and creating solutions that gods would be envious of.

Did John pass the test?

No! He failed entirely! It only took the intelligence a picosecond to find an exploit and unravel his existence.

What was the point of this test?

It was creating a 'firewall'.

Now that John's soul matched that of a data lifeform. He could interact with data using mere intent from his consciousness.

The forbidden mental dao pillar and yin and yang in his sea of consciousness was also reconstructed. It was done so casually that John began to wonder just how powerful the people at the top of this world were?

Considering the average adult in this universe could outclass him in mental strength...

But that was about to change.

John had asked. He found out there was no wait limit to level 2. He didn't need to wait a cycle to go through the test again. Others also weren't observing him taking the test.

They were busy taking the test themselves.

Most took breaks merely because they found getting destroyed and rebuilt to be an unbearable and uncomfortable feeling.

But John was different.

He had grown to love the feeling of getting 'wiped' out.

He was an absolute anomaly!

A freak!

Experiencing something millions of times more uncomfortable then dying would cause others to hesitate. But John didn't even recognize this!

So he entered that space again.

His consciousness was destroyed after the intelligence found an exploit.

Again. Again. Again. Again.

With each 'death'. His consciousness was growing stronger. It was taking longer. A few picoseconds longer for the artificial intelligence to find a way in.

John was constructing the ultimate firewall for his consciousness.

John wasn't a real data lifeform. But after they destroyed his soul and will and reconstructed him. It didn't follow the previous schematic.

What did this mean? They had transformed him into a data lifeform! That is why he no longer needed to even rely on the helmet to exist in their universe.

That wasn't all.

He now wasn't hollow! He had a program.

But the code itself was incomprehensible. It was getting more and more obfuscated with each death.

"I have acquired infinite mental speed."

"But what about infinite mental strength?"

Since the test itself only took a few picoseconds to kill John. He was using Infinite Mind to take it as many times as possible.

Every second in this universe he experienced the test hundreds of billions of times.

John's consciousness was erased thirty-one quintillion one hundred four quadrillion times within the span of a single cycle!

But that wasn't enough. Every time he thought his consciousness had become absolute. Another exploit would be found unraveling it and destroying him.

A cycle passed...

Then another cycle.

100 cycles later...

The amount of times he took the test was almost an impossible number to fathom.

John's consciousness was rotating in darkness. He was in an ultimate battle against something that had destroyed him countless times.

As his consciousness was attacked. It remained perfectly neutral.

It was like water.

Changing forms and shifting to fit the situation. Just like how his abyssal body in the past could adapt to the environment.

His consciousness itself could now adapt to the environment! His consciousness had reached a level of perfect flexibility.

It didn't resemble his past consciousness at all...

John sat there in the darkness waiting for his consciousness to unravel. But the thing is... It didn't!

'User has passed... 0 Vulnerabilities found.'

'Firewall meets minimum standards.'

John laughed:

"Again. Too easy!"

"Alright... maybe that one was slightly harder..."